


The Flowers Say

by Kaitie



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Funny, Gen, Humor, Language of Flowers, Passive-aggression, Prompt Fic, Random & Short, Short One Shot, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 13:52:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11601987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaitie/pseuds/Kaitie
Summary: Eleanor might not have the whole "good neighbor" thing down yet...





	The Flowers Say

Eleanor closed the door behind Tahani with a little too much force.

“Ugh” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, I’ll just remind you that you’re trying to learn how to be a good person. Maybe you should return the favor, bring her something” Chidi said patiently, if a little pained. Of course Eleanor would see someone’s nice gesture as an affront of some sort.

“Oh, so now I’m supposed to be nice and make friends and treat her with mutual respect?” Eleanor shot back. “That’s exactly what she wants me to do, Chidi. Wake up!”

Chidi just shook his head. “I think you’re overreacting.”

Eleanor just looked at him witheringly.

“Why don’t you just think of a way to return her kindness?” Chidi suggested gently. “Just think of it as practice; you don’t have to really mean it. I mean, ideally, as a good person you would mean it, but maybe we need to take baby steps here.”

Eleanor whirled around and Chidi could see an excited gleam in her eye. “Ok, fine. I will return the favor. If giving plants is what good neighbors do, I’ll send her some.”

Before Chidi could congratulate her on taking a step in the right direction, she called out.

“Janet!”

“Yes Eleanor?” the Good Place guide said, popping out of thin air.

“Hi Janet” Eleanor began, pasting a clearly fake smile on her face. “If I wanted to passive-aggressively say ‘fork you’ to someone in flowers, how would I do that?”

Chidi sighed, plopping into a chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. Clearly they weren’t making progress as quickly as he’d hoped.

“Great question Eleanor” the assistant chirped. She stood silent for a moment, appearing to process information before continuing. “My sources say that you could use geraniums, representing stupidity, foxglove for insincerity, meadowsweet for uselessness, yellow carnations, which stand for ‘you have disappointed me,’ and finally, orange lilies which express hatred. It would actually look quite striking and I think would convey a message of definite loathing.”

Eleanor smiled in delight. “Why Janet, that sounds just perfect. Can you make me a bouquet of all of those flowers you mentioned?”

“Of course” Janet answered, a large bouquet suddenly appearing in her hand. Chidi hated to admit it, but it really was quite beautiful. Hopefully Tahani wasn’t fluent in the language of flowers and wouldn’t understand the intended message.

“Thanks Janet” Eleanor said, dismissing her with a wink. Happily, she spun around holding the vase, thrilled with the results of her question.

“Now I can go over there and ‘return the favor’ and tell her she can shove these right up her ash” she said, bolting for the door.

Chidi could only sigh again. “She did just leave, maybe you want to wait a little while before rushing over there with your…gift.”

She stopped to think for a moment, setting down the flowers before turning to Chidi and giving him a sly look. “You’re so right. Running right over there would have looked desperate for approval and like I actually cared about what she thought. You know, Chidi, you’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”

Chidi opened his mouth to explain that she, once again, seemed to have missed the point, but changed his mind. Maybe this was another battle lost, but, he thought to himself, there was still a war to be won. It might not be easy, but he knew that he could eventually find the good person buried, somewhere down deep, inside Eleanor.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Another prompt fic (from fanficy-prompts on tumblr) that immediately made me think of Eleanor. I wrote it shortly after watching the episode where Tahani brings her the plant and this just seemed to fit in perfectly and it made me laugh.


End file.
